Advice taking by groups: The effects of consensus seeking and member opinion differences

Individuals often underutilize the advice they receive from others, a phenomenon known as egocentric advice discounting. Recent research suggests that this tendency may be even stronger in groups (Minson & Mueller, 2012; Schultze, Mojzisch, & Schulz-Hardt, 2019). Using a quantity estimation task, we tested five hypotheses about advice taking by groups and individuals. Chief among these is that groups will discount advice more than individuals do when they have reached consensus on the quantity in question prior to receiving that advice, but will discount it less than individuals do when, in addition to being prevented from reaching consensus beforehand, their members initially have rather different opinions about that quantity. We also tested the hypothesis that advice received from groups will be discounted less than advice received from individuals. Individuals and two-person teams received advice on 15 general knowledge questions that each called for a percentage response. Half of the teams were required to reach an initial consensus judgment before receiving that advice, while the rest were prevented from doing so. Study results support most of our hypotheses, and are discussed in terms of the motivated cognitive closure likely induced by pre-advice consensus seeking in groups.

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 10 Years On: Development, Impact and Future Directions

The development of this Journal, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, is reviewed. Throughout its first 10 years, the Journal has been supported by a strong editorial board. It has sustained a significant profile in social psychology in the area of both intergroup and small group processes. Its wider impact includes connection to related disciplines such as organizational behavior and neuroscience, focused special issues, small conferences related to the theme of the Journal and the expansion of group and intergroup research through learned societies. The editors thank authors, editorial board members, editorial assistants, reviewers and readers for their support.

Prospects for Group Processes and Intergroup Relations Research: A Review of 70 Years' Progress

Three archival analyses are presented substantially extending empirical reviews of the progress of group-related research. First, an analysis of social psychological research from 1935 to 2007 (cf. Abrams & Hogg, 1998) showed that group-related research has a steadily increasing proportion of titles in the principal journals and currently accounts for over a sixth of all the research in our list of social psychological journals. Second, analysis of the most cited papers from a set of principal social psychology journals from 1998 to 2007 showed that a third of high-impact articles in social psychology focus on groups. Third, analysis of the content of two major specialist journals in the field, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations and Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, showed that together these journals cover a broad range of group-related research, and that the only keyword common to both journals was social identity. These findings demonstrate the health and major contributions of research into group processes and intergroup relations to social psychology as a whole.